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Westinghouse $6 billion 5-year contract
Westinghouse Electric Corpora­
tion announced last week that the
U.S Department o f Energy (DOE)
has awarded a W estinghouse-led
team o f companies a $6 billion, five-
year contract for managing the DOE’s
Savannah River Site The contract
includes an option for an additional
five years
"We are honored and delighted
that the Department o f Energy and
Secretary O'Leary have expressed
theirconfldence in Westinghouse and
our team of subcontractors, each of
whom literally define excellence in
their fields. Together, we are fully
committed to moving the Savannah
River Site to a new level of perfor­
mance excellence and to advancing
the Secretary’s contract reform initi­
atives, which already are achieving
significant savings for U S. taxpay­
ers,” said Michael H. Jordan, chair­
man and chief executive officer of
Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
U nder the new con tract, the
Westinghouse Savannah RiverCom-
pany will manage the site and its
nuclear facility operations as well as
safety, health, quality assurance and
technology development activities.
“During the next five years, we
will be working with a single focus
to attain performance leadership
in every key area, building on the
accomplishments o f the past seven
years to achieve our customer’s pro­
gram milestones and priorities safely
and cost effectively,” said Francis J
Harvey, executive vice president and
c h ie f o p e ra tin g o ffic e r o f the
Westinghouse Industries and Tech­
nology Group.
"W estinghouse has a partnership
in performance with the Department
o f Energy that has resulted in sus­
tained improvement at every one o f
the sites we manage. Our focus on
applying successful performance and
cost improvement strategies across
all o f the sites we manage for the
DOE has yielded savings o f more
than SI billion to the taxpayer, over
S300 million o f it in 1995.”
Westinghouse has managed the
Savannah River Site since 1989,
moving the site from its original mis­
sion o f weapons production to its
post-Cold War mission o f environ­
mental remediation and processing
nuclear materials for safe storage
and ultimate disposal.
With its prim e subcontractor,
B echtel S av an n ah R iver, Inc.,
Westinghouse has completed signif­
icant waste management and envi­
ronmental restoration projects.
As its mission shifted, Westing-
house initiated rigorous new safety
and operations m anagement pro­
grams while concurrently achieving
significant cost reductions and work­
ing with private industry to transfer
promising new technologies forcom-
mercialization.
Earlier this year at Savannah Riv­
er, Westinghouse began operation of
the nation’s largest and most ad­
vanced nuclear waste processing fa­
cility, w hich is the first o f its kind in
the U.S. The facility immobilizes the
Re-engineering an estate
bv
B ob R om
Now may be a good time to re­
engineer your landscape, particular­
ly if trees and shrubs have become
overgrown and are shading plants
that need sunlight.
“ In this case, re-engineering sim­
ply means taking a good look at what
you have now and figuring out w hat
you could do to make it better,” said
Ray McNeilan, home horticulturist
with the Oregon State University
Extension Service.
"A s landscapes mature, plants
change,” M cNeilan pointed out.
“Trees and shrubs outgrow their place
in the garden. In almost every' land­
scape, a time comes when some ren­
ovation, or re-engineering, is need­
ed.”
Develop a plan that you can use as
a guide through the re-engineering
period, McNeilan said. A planned
landscape or garden doesn’t have to
happen all at once.
A plan lets you work on parts o f
the landscape and save other areas
until the next season, yet gives over­
all guidance tow ards a predetermined
goal.
What is the focal point in your
garden or home landscape, or do you
have one? A focal point draws the
eye and stimulates interest in the
garden. It could be as simple as a bird
feeder, or as complicated as a plant
maze. There can be several pints for
different areas.
“The N ational G arden Bureau
suggests that a coordinated color
scheme can really pull a garden to­
gether or refresh one that may have
gone stale,” McNeilan said, “for ex­
ample, try matching the colors in
your garden to the colors in dishes or
California a hot market
waste in glass for environmentally
safe, long-term storage.
During its seven years o f manag­
ing the S a v a n n a h R iv e r S ite ,
W estinghouse and its prime subcon­
tractor, Bechtel, have made major
strides in site environmental clean­
up, upgraded a number ofolder facil­
ities and brought on-line several new
ones to help the DOE move into its
new post-Cold War responsibilities.
In addition, the site has become
the acknowledged leader in safety
and operational discipline within the
DOE.
The Savannah River Site occu­
pies 300-square-miles near Aiken,
South Carolina.
For nearly four decades it pro­
duced materials for the nation’s nu­
clear defense programs, primarily
plutonium and tritium.
It was bui It in the 1950s by DuPont,
which operated the site until 1989,
when the Westinghouse-Bechtel team
won an intense competition to man­
age its operations.
placemats that you might use for
outdoor dining.”
Mid to late summer is not the best
time to plant, but it is a good time to
plan, McNeilan noted.
Plan now for changes you might
make later this fall or next spring.
Pruning, transplanting, thinning and
replanting may all be involved in
your plan.
“ Re-engineering need not be a
major undertaking,” McNeilan add­
ed. “By planning small adjustments
every year or so, you can keep your
landscape or garden interesting.”
In a flurry o f suburban office
building sales along the Interstate-
680 corridor, institutional investors
have registered a new vote o f con­
fidence for East Bay real estate.
Real estate investment trusts,
pension funds and wealthy investor
groups are involved in at least a half
dozen current deals, most o f which
are slated to close in the next 30 to
60 days.
"W e are very interested in the
market. W e’ve taken a run at just
a b o u t a n y th in g ,” said P e te r
Schnugg, senior vice president o f
Spieker Properties, a Menlo Park-
based real estate investment trust.
(Greater Walnut Creek) is proba­
bly the premiere suburban market
in the East Bay. It makes sense for
us to be there as soon as we can.”
The bonanza o f summer sales
comes after at least five years o f
trying to fill an over-built market,
climbing vacancy rates, foreclosures
and fire sales. The deals join the
ranksofaboutS 152 million indeals
on eight buildings larger than
100,000 square feet in central Contra
Costa County since last August.
Another Walnut Creek broker
reports that Mitsui Fudosan (U.S. A.
Inc.) will sell 2700 Ygnacio Blvd.
in Walnut Creek to San Mateo-
based W'illiam Wilson & Associ­
ates next week for $8.75 million.
“Wall Street likes real estate
now,” added Sean M. Cooley, vice
president ofoffice buildings for CB
Commercial Real Estate Group Inc.
in Walnut Creek.
Because o f a recovering econo­
my, businesses are scouring for
available expansion space in the
greater East Bay office market o f
Protecting home landscape from spider mites
by
B ob R ost
Hot and dry summer weather is
ideal for spider mites, tiny pests that
attack many types o f ornamental
plants in the home landscape.
Mites feed on plant juices, caus­
ing the leaves or needles o f plants to
turn yellow and dry and to fall, said
Ray McNeilan, home horticulturist
with the Oregon State University
Extension Service.
Infested broad leaves may be
cupped downward or become dis­
torted. A very light film o f webbing
may or may not be found where spi­
der mites are established.
Spider mites also attack some gar­
den crops including sweet com and
beans, McNeilan added.
There are several species o f mites,
but the most common are red spider
mites and two-spotted spider mites.
The mite is too small to be seen
without some sort o f magnifying lens.
One way to check for their presence
is to hold a sheet o f white paper under
a cluster o f possibly infested leaves,
and strike the branch or stem. Close­
ly examine the material that falls to
the paper.
“ Dust spots that move are proba­
bly spider mites,” McNeilan said.
roughly 23 million square feet.
The activity has pushed the over
all office vacancy rates in the East
Bay down to an average o f about 10
percent, a five-year low, according
to Allen Meacham Associates
real estate consulting company in
Point Richmond The vacancy rates
in some submarkets, including the
stre tc h from San R am on to
Livermore, are estimated to be in
the single-digit range.
“There are fewer and fewer see-
through buildings. Real estate is
starting to fook better and better,
Allen Meacham said.
Much o f the absorption o f office
space this year has been driven by
the relocation o f a booming Silicon
Valley economy that cannot fully
accommodate high-tech, biotech
and telecommunications companies
“We see a lot o f activity from
Silicon Valley. Everybody is posi­
tive about business again. People
are willing to make commitments,
Cooley said.
“There’s more competition for
these spaces than I ever anticipated.
Even banks— hesitant to finance
real estate deals following the sav
ings & loan crisis and the spate o f
Resolution Trust Corp, fire sales
are finding the competition heating
up for good loans.
“Business is coming back, vacan­
cies are decreasing and the values are
going up. Banks were under criticism
for making real estate loans. They are
more willing to make the deal work,”
explained Douglas Cook, assistant
vice president for The Mechanics
Bank in Walnut Creek. “There’s no
question it’s picking up. Buyers are in
the market.”
Advertise In
Washing infested plants periodi­
cally w ith a strong stream o f water
will provide some control.
Insecticidal soap and overhead
irrigation are alternative controls for
home landscapers who prefer not to
use pesticides. Insecticidal soaps are
avai lable at garden and nursery stores.
Call 503-288-0033
Peninsula Drainage Plan Homeowners Partners Project
PURHA1*
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C O N S T R U C T IO N
DEVELOPM ENT
EDW ARD T. D U R H A M , JR.
(503) 319-0 8 2 1
FAX 2 8 3 -2 9 7 7
317 B. N.E. KILLINGSWORTH PORTLAND, OREGON 9721 I
The U.S. Army Corps o f Engi­
neers plans to reinforce a section o f
railroad embankment and construct
a splash apron below the pump-
outlet pipes through the Columbia
Slough levee near Portland Interna­
tional Raceway.
The site is part o f the Peninsula
Drainage District No. 1. Action is
needed to strengthen the project to
contain a 100-year flood.
The term “ 100-year flood" does
not mean that a flood o f this scope
can occur only once every 100 years.
The term means that there is a one
percent chance each year that a flood
o f that magnitude could occur
The proposed work calls for a
2,000 foot railroad embankment re­
inforcem ent. The reinforcem ent,
which is on the landward site o f the
embankment, will be raised to a
level of2 8 .7 feet (Portland Datum)
with sand.
This reinforcement, in conjunc­
tion with the railroad embankment,
will protect against a one-percent
chance ( 100-year) flood with a 98.5
percent reliability.
Construction o f the splash apron
calls forplacing large rocks (riprap)
below the pump-discharge outlet to
prevent erosion when the pumping
water out o f the drainage district
and into the slough.
A Water Quality Certification has
been requested from the Oregon De­
partment o f Environmental Quality .
The certification is required since the
riprap will be placed in the water.
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The goal o f the Oregon Home-
ownership Partners Project 2000 is
to give increasing numbers o f hard­
working families the chance to adopt
the mantle o f “homeowner.”
This partnership is one o f 58 local
coalitions around the country who
have accepted President Clinton’s
challenge, issued just over a year
ag o , to add 8 m illio n new
homeowners in this nation by the end
o f the year 2000, bringing the nation­
al homeownership rate to an all-time
high o f 67.5 percent.
Why is homeownership so impor­
tant?
There are the measurable bene­
fits: that the home is a primary means
o f wealth accumulation for Ameri­
can homeowners; that homeowner­
ship generates construction, jobs, and
economic growth.
But there are also homeowner-
ship’s less tangible—but no less im­
portant-benefits: that homeowner­
ship instills self-reliance, responsi­
bility, a sense o f pride. Brick by
brick, homeownership can build or
rebuild neighborhoods,communities,
and lives.
The good news is that the Presi­
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dent’s strategy, which funnels pri­
vate - and public-sector efforts to­
ward helping private lenders reach
new pockets o f credit-worthy home-
buyers, is working. After years o f
stagnation, 1995 saw this nation’s
largest increase in homeownership
in 30 years.
Homeownership in America now
stands at 65.4 percent, a 15-year high.
The people o f the Oregon are
working together to bring this posi­
tive trend to their own neighbor­
hoods. Proofofth is shows in Oregon
through the Portland Housing Cen­
ter's Project Down Payment Pro­
gram.
This program helps low - to mod­
erate - income borrowers achieve the
dream of homeownership by helping
them hurdle the main barrier in pur­
chasing a home—the funds needed
funds needed for downpayment. As
o f now, there are 27 innovative pro­
grams such as this one scattered
throughout the state.
It is encouraging to see homeown-
ership’s comeback, in Oregon and
throughout the country. But success
notwithstanding, there is much more
to be done.
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